A Spooky Swamp Comes to Life at Laguna Beach Play for Big Kids

With dry ice and gauze, eerie lights and weird sounds, the Moulton Theatre will be transformed into a spooky Alabama swamp this weekend as the Laguna Playhouse Youth Theatre presents Suzan Zeder’s “Wiley and the Hairy Man,� a funny and scary play for ages 7 and up, based on a folk tale of the Old South.

Zeder, one of America’s leading playwrights for young people, also wrote the Youth Theatre’s big success of last season, the Depression-era drama “Mother Hicks.�

“On one level “Wiley� is a comedy,� director Joe Lauderdale said in a recent phone interview, “but it also addresses dealing with fears--a universal problem. In the play, Wiley is a young boy who is terrified of a mysterious Hairy Man who lurks in the swamp. According to his mother, a conjure-woman, he can only get rid of the Hairy Man if he tricks him three times.

“Of course, the Hairy Man is really the personification of his own fear,� Lauderdale explained. “How Wiley confronts that fear is what the play is about.�

Originally from Oklahoma, Lauderdale, 27, has a masters of fine arts in children’s theater from Arizona State University. He worked with Zeder on her then work-in-progress called “In a Room Somewhere.�

“I think Suzan Zeder is one of the best playwrights around,� Lauderdale said. “I don’t think she’s written a single play that’s like any other work she’s done.� Zeder, who writes for adults as well as for children, has won the American Assn. of Theatre and Education’s Distinguished Play Award and the Chorpenning Award for her body of work. In her plays for children, fantasy and reality combine to address serious issues such as divorce and self-esteem.

“ ‘Wiley’ did present problems for me as a director,� Lauderdale said, “because it’s so visually and movement-oriented. I have a chorus of kids, painted to look like part of the set, who have to turn into alligators, quicksand, sticker bushes and trees when Wiley and the Hairy Man start conjuring up spells. It took forever to block.

“Luckily, we didn’t have to work on dialect; it’s written into the script, and I told the cast not to paraphrase at all because the rhythm and rhyme of the language are (an integral) part of the play.�

Lauderdale’s aim is to capture audience members from the moment they walk into the theater, getting them ready for the chills, thrills and laughs to come. “We have tons of swamp sounds and dry ice fog. Some of the action goes into the audience; chases go down the aisles. We wanted to make the event as environmental as possible--so the audience will really have the feeling of being in a swamp.�

Rubber boots aren’t necessary, however.

“Wiley and the Hairy Man� opens tonight at the Moulton Theatre, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach. Curtain times: 7 p.m. today; 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday; noon and 3 p.m. Sunday. Not recommended for children 6 and under. Tickets: $3 to $5. Information: (714) 494-8021.